CESI 2023: Concept Note


 Conference Theme : Changing Dynamics of Education: Perspectives and New Directions from Global South
 
Over the last few decades, education systems have undergone tremendous transformations in the global south and elsewhere in the world. Educational structures have been reformed, access democratized, and individuals and communities at margins are actively claiming their right to education and social mobility. State and the market have brought in various interventions to address emerging aspirations and challenges in education. Nevertheless, discourses on postcolonialism and decoloniality, globalization, liberalization, privatization, and the state of democracies today make us rethink metamorphoses of education and the ways in which these engage with questions of society, polity, economy, and culture. The exponential growth in education ushered in by the agenda of universalization and mass education driven by the policies of privatization has not equitably benefited the people, communities, and nations at margins. Disparities among the regions, inequalities between poor and rich across social groups and geographies are found to be growing. Further there is a persisting and an organized push for market and corporate interventions in education. Neoconservative and neoliberal states decreed to control what is to be taught and how by modifying curricula, pedagogy, and structures. Weakening of democracies with the rise of the populist forces and ethno-majoritarian nationalism, predominance of new managerialism and market ideologies conjointly pose challenges afresh to the possibilities of attaining equity and social justice all across the world. Consequently, the contemporary world is facing a situation of violence, fear, crime, and multiple insecurities. Hence to reimagine the role of education and the embodied hegemonies in the world crisis, serious deliberations are pertinent.

The global south and its predecessor signifiers like the ‘orient world,’ ‘third world,’ ‘underdeveloped and developing world’ are constructed through numerous, yet contesting, epistemic positionalities. North-South, center-periphery and global-local binaries indicate power structures, discrete epistemologies, and ontological positionalities. Such notions in the context of global South, often seen as ‘evolving and contingent’ and signifying the experiences and perspectives of individuals, communities, nations, and regions on the margins, are critical for any efforts towards setting the agenda of an alternate epistemology for change and social justice. Knowledge being one of the central concerns of education, it is important to interrogate relations of domination, control, power and political economy of the knowledge production, distribution, and representation. The questions arise, ‘what ways do theory building in the global north [Europe and North America) dictate the agendas of educational research, policy, and practice in the global south [Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Oceania]? How do indigenous systems of knowledge figure in the school and university curriculum of global south regions? What does it mean to problematize ‘Souths in the geographic North and Norths in the geographic South’ in ways that question dominant social relations which shape experiences of gender, race, caste, class, or disability in sites of education? How do historical contingencies of education in the global North and South mediate representations of culture, identity, and agency? How are the voices of marginalized social groups situated in subordinate positionalities within global systems of power articulated? Such questions prompt us to critically engage with the contradictory promises of colonialism, modernity, development, and neoliberal capitalism shaping the educational dynamics today not by simply reversing dominant relations of power but by being amenable to exigencies of circumstances and obtaining a legitimate place for experiences and perspectives of the ‘marginalized’ and ‘minoritized’ communities, nation(s), and nationalities. The potential of such a standpoint can be demonstrated from the emerging scholarship around marginal childhoods and ‘minority’ communities or nationalities in the global south. Knowledge building from the vantage point of the global south necessitates inquiries into issues of education from not just through conventional disciplines such sociology, philosophy, psychology, history, or economics but also through various interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary projects. It necessitates practice as much as theory in this project of critically examining the educational developments and their contentious trajectories. 

The13th Annual International Conference-2023 of CESI focuses on the global south by critically exploring dynamics, directions, and perspectives on education systems. Besides the aforementioned critical quests, this conference aims to deliberate on how politics, culture, corporatization, recent technologies, changing policies, thriving consumerism and global capitalism is defining the very purpose of education in our times. How are questions of caste, gender, religion, region, and diverse ethnicities imbricated with each other in contemporary discourses of educational dynamics? It seeks to focus on various areas of social inquiry in the domain of school and higher education including policy shifts, curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, organizational culture, classroom interactions, teachers and teaching, politics of knowledge, leaderships and systemic and structural factors shaping educational landscapes today. The papers and presentations in the CESI-2023 conference may focus on the sub-themes outlined below. 

Sub-themes for CESI-2023
  • Sociology of education in global south
  • Political economy of knowledge production .
  • Discourses of educational access, quality, and equity
  • Debates on curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment
  • History of education systems, structures, and processes
  • Science and mathematics education
  • Policy perspectives in education
  • Citizenship education and political socialization
  • Emerging challenges in higher education
  • State, market (s), and neoliberal agendas in education
  • Institutional structures and new segregations
  • Teachers, teaching, and teacher education
  • Internationalization and regionalization in education
  • Emerging discourses on aims and purpose of education.
  • Use of digital technologies and emerging contestations
  • Educational research: environments, trends, and methodologies
  • Values, peace, and conflict resolution in education
  • Gender and intersectionality in current times
  • Urban transformations and educational marginalities
  • Economics and financing of education
  • Psycho-social perspectives on education
  • Caste, class, tribe, and ethnicity in education systems
  • Knowledge, power, and education in North-east India
  • Schooling, aspirations, and identity building
  • Education, democracy, and ideological contestations
  • Education and ethno-majoritarian nationalism
  • Educational inequalities and resistance at margins
  • Language and education: policies, debates, and emerging concerns
  • Comparative education: forms, prospects, and challenges
  • Morality, ethics, and aesthetics in education

Please note:
  • We encourage individual abstract as well as proposed panels for the conference. ​